Notice of a defect in a rented flat, with rent reduction and a demand for repair (Austria)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
The letter a tenant in Austria uses to report a defect in the flat — mould, a broken boiler, water damage, leaking windows — and to demand repair by a date. It states that the rent is reduced by law for as long and as far as use is impaired (§ 1096 of the Austrian Civil Code, ABGB) and lets you choose: keep paying in full under an express reservation to reclaim, the safer course, or pay the reduced rent. You enter the percentage yourself. In German, for every Land; print, sign and send by registered post.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Tenant (name with any academic degree)
- Tenant's address
- Landlord (name with any academic degree, or the company name)
- Landlord's postal address (street, then postcode and town on the next line)
- City
- Date
- Address of the flat (with staircase and door number)
- Date of the contract
- Date the defect appeared
- Defect
- Affected rooms
- Deadline to fix
- Contact phone
- Total monthly rent (with service charges and any VAT)
- Reduction as a percentage of the rent (your own estimate)
- How you will pay the rent until the repair: in full under reservation (safer), or reduced
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Does a tenant in Austria have to apply to the landlord for a rent reduction?
- No. If the flat becomes unusable or its use is impaired through no fault of the tenant, the rent is reduced by law for as long and as far as the impairment lasts, and for dwellings that right cannot be waived in advance (§ 1096 ABGB). But the defect must be reported to the landlord (§ 1097 ABGB) — this letter is that report, with a deadline for the repair.
- Should a tenant in Austria pay the full rent under reservation, or pay less straight away?
- Paying the full rent without reservation while knowing of the defect risks being read as a waiver of the reduction, which also bars reclaiming it (§ 1431 ABGB). Paying in full under an express reservation and reclaiming later is safer; that claim prescribes after three years. Paying less at once and deducting too much builds arrears, a ground for ending the lease (§ 30 Abs 2 Z 1 MRG). The letter lets you choose.
- How large may a rent reduction in Austria be?
- The law sets no percentages; what counts is how badly and for how long the defect impairs use of the flat (§ 1096 ABGB). If the flat cannot be used at all, no rent is due for that time. Under the case law the reduction applies to the whole rent, service charges included. Tables drawn from court decisions are only guides, so you enter the percentage yourself, and the total monthly rent.
- Who must repair a broken boiler (Therme) in a rented flat in Austria?
- Since the 2015 housing-law amendment, the landlord must maintain rented boilers, water heaters and similar heating appliances where the Austrian Tenancy Act applies in full or in part; in full application this follows from § 3 MRG, in partial application from § 1096 ABGB, which the lease may not depart from on this point. In full application the landlord must also maintain the common parts of the building and remedy serious damage and health hazards in the flat, and the Schlichtungsstelle or the district court can order the work.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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